The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-06-18

Must they not nave Sunered nOrri-
bly,! / am not sure of that. The
smoke rolled heavily and slowly be-
fore the fire. 1t enyeloped the wOun-
ded, and l think that by far the
larger portion of the men who were
roasted were suffocated before the
flames curled around them. The
spectacle was courage. sapping and
pitiful, and 1t appealed strongly to
the Imagination of the spectators,
but do not believe that the wound
ed soldiers who were being burned,
suffered greatly, if they suffered at
all.
Wounded soldiers, it mattered not
how slight the wound, generally has
tened away from the battle line. A
wound entitled a man to 60 the rear
and to a hospital. Of course there
were many exceptions to this rule, as
there would necessarily be in battles
where from twenty to thirty thous-
and men were wounded. / frequent
~ saw slightly wounded men who
were marching..with their colors. l
personly saw but two men wounded
who continued to fight. During the
the first days fighting in the Wilder
ness l saw a youth of about twenty
years skip and yell, stung by a bull.
let through the thigh. He turned to
limp to the rear. After he had gone
few steps he stopped, then he kick
ed out his leg once or twice to see if it
would work. Then he tore the cloth
ing away from his leg 80 as to see the
wound. He looked at 1t attentiyely
then kicked out his leg again, then
turned and took his place in the
ranks and resumed firing. There
was considerable disorder in the line,
and the soldiers moved to and fro
now few feet to the left, now a few
feet to the right. One of these move.
ments brought me directly behind
this wounded soldier. I could see
plainly from that position, and 1
pushed into the gaping line and be-
gan firing. In minute or two the
wounded soldier dropped his rifle,
and clasping his left arm exclaimed i:
ST am hit again! I" He sat down be.
hind the battle ranks and tore off the
sleeve of his shirt. The wound was
very slight-not much more than
skin deep. He tied his handkerchief
around it, picked up his rifle and
took his position alongside of me. I
said: "You are fighting in bad luck
to-day. You had better get away
from here" He turned his head to
answer me. His head jerked, he
staggered, then fell, then regained
his feet. A tiny fountain of blood
and teeth and bone and bits of tongue
burst from his mouth. He had been
shot through the jaws: the lower one
was broken and hung down. 1 look
directly into his open mouth, which
was ragged and tongueless. He cast
his rifle furiously on the ground and
staggered off.
The next day. just before Long
streets soldiers made their first
charge on the Second Corps, 1 heard
the peculiar cry stricken man ut
tiers as the bullet tears through his
flesh. l turned my head, as / load
ed my rifle. to see who was hit. I
saw bearded Irishman pull up his
shirt. He had been wounded on the
left side just below the floating ribs.
his face was gray with fear. The
wound looked as though it " ere NOR.
tai. He looked at it for an instant.
and then poked it gently with his in
dex finger. He flushed redly and
smiled with satisfaction. He tucked
his shirt into his trousers and was
fighting in the ranks again before 1
had capped my rife. The bali had
cut groove in his skin only. The
play of the Irishman's face was so
expressive, his emotions changed so
quickly that 1 could not keep from
laughing.
Near Syottsylvania 1 saw, as my
battery was moving into action, a
group of wounded men lying in the
shade cast by some large oak trees.
All of the mems faces were gray.
They silently looked at US as we
marched past them. One wounded
man, a blonde giant of about forty
years. was smoking brierwood pipe.
He had firm grip on the pipe-stem.
/ asked of him what he was doing.
Glowing my last SNAKE, young fell
low" he replied. His dauntless blue
eyes met mine, and he bravely tried
to smile. l saw that he was dying
fast.
Wounded soldiers almost always
tear their clothing away from their
wounds so as to see and judge of their
character. Many OF them would
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